You're reading: Russian activists to give NATO evidence of soldiers dying in Ukraine

Opposition activists in Moscow who discovered freshly dug graves of Russian servicemen say they are handing over their findings to NATO for further scrutiny.


Ruslan Leviev and Vadim Korovin, who took it
upon themselves to hunt down proof of Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine,
published photographs of one fresh grave in Russia’s Tambov Oblast on May 20,
along with photographs showing a wreath sent from Russia’s Defense Ministry.

They also released information on two other
servicemen’s graves, which led to volunteers joining in the search and tracking
down relatives – who reportedly were told the circumstances of the men’s deaths
were “confidential.”

“His relatives asked military officers how
their son had died, and they were told that it was confidential, but that he
died somewhere in the Caucasus,” Leviev said, speaking about Ivan Kardapalov,
one of the young servicemen who was recently buried.

Leviev and Korovin believe Kardapalov and two
other men, all said to be from the 16th special operations brigade
of Russian military intelligence, died in a battle in eastern Ukraine on May
4-5.

The dead – Kardapalov, Timur Mamayusupov and
Anton Savelyev – were all friends, according to findings on social media, and
they were buried around the same time in their respective hometowns.

By enlisting the
help of British investigative journalist Eliot Higgins, who plans to distribute
the recent findings to NATO and other organizations, Leviev said he was hoping
to remind the international community not to soften up on Russia.

“(We want) more sanctions against Russian
officials, servicemen, all the people involved. Ideally – although we realize
it is futile to hope for this – we’d like to see a decision made or at least
pressure to supply Kyiv with lethal aid,” Leviev said.

“We have always
stressed that we realize lethal aid could lead to an escalation of the
conflict, but the Ukrainian army at least needs to be able to defend itself.
The Russian military has major advantages, so Ukraine needs contemporary
weapons to at least fend off attacks,” he said.

Higgins confirmed his cooperation with the
activists in written comments to the Kyiv Post, saying his group would “
be passing on the information to
various individuals and organizations” in order to attract attention to
Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict.

The Defense
Ministry has repeatedly denied sending troops to Ukraine and maintained that
any Russians found fighting there went voluntarily.

Reports of the fresh graves coincide with
Ukraine’s detention of two Russians captured in the Luhansk region on May 16.
Those men, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, have identified
themselves as Russian officers on video, and in a recent interview with Novaya
Gazeta maintained that they were still in the Russian military.

That claim contradicted the Russian Defense
Ministry’s statements that the two men had retired before going to Ukraine.